Live Reporting

Recap: Publication of the Chilcot report

We're finishing our live page coverage, following the publication of the Chilcot report into the Iraq War earlier today.

Sir John Chilcot said - in the report that was years in the making and comes to more than 2m words - that then prime minister Tony Blair's government overstated the threat of Saddam Hussein, sent ill-prepared troops into battle and did not have adequate plans for its aftermath.

Mr Blair has apologised for any mistakes made, but not for the decision to go to war.

Prime Minister David Cameron said it was important to "really learn the lessons for the future", saying that "sending our brave troops on to the battlefield without the right equipment was unacceptable".

A spokesman for some of the families of the 179 British servicemen and women killed in Iraq during the conflict said their relatives died "unnecessarily and without just cause and purpose".

You can scroll down for updates as they happened - or click on these links for more information:

Keir Starmer: 'Chilcot report is damning'

Labour MP and former director of public prosecutions Keir Starmer writes in the Guardian that the lessons learned from the Chilcot inquiry should be enshrined in law.

He writes:

Quote Message: The Chilcot report is damning. It exposes a litany of failures over a long period, including reliance on flawed intelligence assessments, lack of planning and insufficient foresight of obvious consequences. But the report also exposes a chilling lack of rigour and a political culture of deference.

The Chilcot report is damning. It exposes a litany of failures over a long period, including reliance on flawed intelligence assessments, lack of planning and insufficient foresight of obvious consequences. But the report also exposes a chilling lack of rigour and a political culture of deference.

He says a "robust and agreed framework, underpinned in law" is needed before the UK engages in any future military action.

Mr Starmer adds:

Quote Message: A properly evidenced and robust legal basis should be a minimum requirement; as should a fully prepared, realistic and risk-assessed plan. The absence of the former is why I opposed the Iraq war in 2003; the absence of the latter why I voted against military action in Syria in 2015.

A properly evidenced and robust legal basis should be a minimum requirement; as should a fully prepared, realistic and risk-assessed plan. The absence of the former is why I opposed the Iraq war in 2003; the absence of the latter why I voted against military action in Syria in 2015.

He concludes by saying he hopes divisions can "start to heal" now and that "we can start to ensure similar mistakes will not be repeated".

Blair: An honest plea, or a performance?

Michael Deacon, parliamentary sketchwriter at the Daily Telegraph, says that Tony Blair looked "a broken man" when he spoke earlier today, following the publication of the Chilcot report.

But he adds:

Quote Message: What to make of it all? An honest plea for understanding from a broken man? Or a performance, an immaculately executed impersonation of one?

What to make of it all? An honest plea for understanding from a broken man? Or a performance, an immaculately executed impersonation of one?

Quote Message: This is his trouble. If people don’t believe he was honest in taking the country to war, they won’t believe he’s honest in anything. He will always be under suspicion, no matter what he says, and no matter how he sounds when he says it. That suspicion will be with him, whatever."

This is his trouble. If people don’t believe he was honest in taking the country to war, they won’t believe he’s honest in anything. He will always be under suspicion, no matter what he says, and no matter how he sounds when he says it. That suspicion will be with him, whatever."

International New York Times: Chilcot unsparing of Blair

A photograph of Tony Blair addressing reporters after the publication of the Chilcot report appears on the front page of Thursday's edition of the International New York Times.

The paper's headline says the report was "unsparing" of the former prime minister.

Its findings "amounted to a moment of searing public accountability for Mr Blair, who perhaps even more than Mr Bush has been defined in his own country almost entirely, and almost entirely negatively, for his decision to go into Iraq alongside the United States", it says.

Peter Brierley, 65, said his son had believed he was protecting the country's security before he died - but had he survived he would have joined families and veterans at the release of the long-awaited Iraq Inquiry report on Wednesday.

And he said the next step for the families and campaigners was to seek legal action. He told the Press Association:

Quote Message: I've done this for 13 years - my son died 13 years ago - and I would like Tony Blair to be taken to court, to stand in court.

I've done this for 13 years - my son died 13 years ago - and I would like Tony Blair to be taken to court, to stand in court.

Quote Message: I have said all along if they put him in court, he stands in the dock and they hear all the evidence and the judge says not guilty, that is a verdict that I couldn't agree with - I just can't see that he's not guilty - but it's one that I would have to accept. I've argued for so long that that's what needs to happen.

I have said all along if they put him in court, he stands in the dock and they hear all the evidence and the judge says not guilty, that is a verdict that I couldn't agree with - I just can't see that he's not guilty - but it's one that I would have to accept. I've argued for so long that that's what needs to happen.

Quote Message: That would be closure because I've always said I'm looking forward to the day when I can stop doing this, I can go home, I can put the television on, get my cup of tea, sit back and say to my wife - that's it, I've done all I can.

That would be closure because I've always said I'm looking forward to the day when I can stop doing this, I can go home, I can put the television on, get my cup of tea, sit back and say to my wife - that's it, I've done all I can.

Blair support for US 'not unconditional'

Pat McFadden, an adviser to Tony Blair at the time of the Iraq War, told the BBC it was wrong to say the prime minister had given unconditional support to US President George W Bush over Iraq.

"All the effort from the British end was to persuade the Americans to go down the UN route - to broaden the coalition and the basis for any possible action," he said.

Mr McFadden, who was elected as Labour MP for Wolverhampton South East in 2005, added: "Much of the discussions of the consequence of the Iraq War has been in such a way that it seems like history began in 2003 - that all the extremist violence we've seen in the Middle East and elsewhere stemmed from that.

"It's important to stress that is not the case. We had 9/11 two years before this, we had Bali and we also had Saddam's regime which had indulged in horrific killing of its own population."

Some Chilcot criticism justified - US diplomat Bremer

The US diplomat, who who administered the coalition provisional authority after the Iraq War, has accepted several criticisms made in the Chilcot report but maintains that "history will agree that it was the correct, if difficult decision to remove Saddam".

But he says he does not share the report's assumption that a “strategy of containment” of Saddam Hussein was adequate or criticism of moves to remove senior Ba’ath party officials from government posts after the war.

Most in Iraq 'made minds up about invasion long ago' - Jeremy Bowen

Iraqis are preoccupied with Eid al Fitr, the festival that marks the end of Ramadan - and with survival. Not with the Chilcot report.

Most people made their minds up about the invasion long ago. I've met only one man who thinks they're better off because of it.

A group of men I interviewed outside Baghdad's main Sunni mosque despaired at the violence and lack of personal security - and echoed a warning that Chilcot says was ignored by Number 10, about Iran pursuing its interests in Iraq if its enemy Saddam Hussein fell.

Crispin Blunt says he feels misled

He said he had been "entirely convinced" by the case made by former prime minister Tony Blair at the time.

But he added:

Quote Message: As an ex-soldier, I thought it was ridiculous we were having this debate when my former colleagues were in the process of putting their camouflage cream on and going through the final battle procedure before crossing the start line at six in the morning following our vote.

As an ex-soldier, I thought it was ridiculous we were having this debate when my former colleagues were in the process of putting their camouflage cream on and going through the final battle procedure before crossing the start line at six in the morning following our vote.

He described that situation as "ludicrous", adding: "If Parliament was going to be invited to make this decision, it needed to make it considerably in advance."

Mr Blunt, who voted in favour of the war, added that he felt "misled" by "the way in which the intelligence was made to fit the assessment the prime minister wanted to present".

Straw: 'Difficult decisions were made in good faith'

Here is some more from Jack Straw's statement, following the publication of the Chilcot report.

The Labour former foreign secretary said the inquiry did not claim that Parliament and the public were wilfully misled about the intelligence regarding weapons of mass destruction - or that the decision to take military action was unlawful.

Quote Message: Difficult decisions were made in good faith, based on the evidence available at the time - and only after strenuous efforts had been made by me and many others, across the international community, to pursue a diplomatic resolution and avoid military conflict.

Difficult decisions were made in good faith, based on the evidence available at the time - and only after strenuous efforts had been made by me and many others, across the international community, to pursue a diplomatic resolution and avoid military conflict.

He added that he had worked "ceaselessly" to try to gain agreement on a second United Nations Security Council Resolution, which, he believed, could have led to war being averted.

Quote Message: My profound concern at that time was that, given the threat to international peace and security which the Security Council had declared in respect of Iraq only four months previously, if no military action was taken international resolve would progressively weaken, and the threat from Saddam Hussein to his own people and neighbouring countries would become much greater.

My profound concern at that time was that, given the threat to international peace and security which the Security Council had declared in respect of Iraq only four months previously, if no military action was taken international resolve would progressively weaken, and the threat from Saddam Hussein to his own people and neighbouring countries would become much greater.

George Bush: 'Whole world is better off without Saddam Hussein'

Former US president George W Bush's spokesman has made a statement following the publication of the Chilcot report.

His communications director Freddy Ford said:

Quote Message: President Bush is hosting wounded warriors at his ranch today and has not had the chance to read the Chilcot report.

President Bush is hosting wounded warriors at his ranch today and has not had the chance to read the Chilcot report.

Quote Message: Despite the intelligence failures and other mistakes he has acknowledged previously, President Bush continues to believe the whole world is better off without Saddam Hussein in power.

Despite the intelligence failures and other mistakes he has acknowledged previously, President Bush continues to believe the whole world is better off without Saddam Hussein in power.

Quote Message: He is deeply grateful for the service and sacrifice of American and coalition forces in the war on terror. And there was no stronger ally than the United Kingdom under the leadership of [then] Prime Minister Tony Blair. President Bush believes we must now find the unity and resolve to stay on the offensive and defeat radical extremism wherever it exists.

He is deeply grateful for the service and sacrifice of American and coalition forces in the war on terror. And there was no stronger ally than the United Kingdom under the leadership of [then] Prime Minister Tony Blair. President Bush believes we must now find the unity and resolve to stay on the offensive and defeat radical extremism wherever it exists.

David Blunkett: Government made 'enormous effort' to get second resolution approved by UN

Labour former home secretary David Blunkett says he accepts his share of responsibility for the decision to go to war in Iraq.

Responding to the Chilcot report in the House of Lords, the Labour peer said the government had made "an enormous effort" to get a second resolution approved by the UN.

He said it would be "perverse in the extreme" if, in future, the UK wasn't able to join its allies, "because our action was vetoed by Vladimir Putin, at a moment when he himself is bombing civilians in Syria without any process or authorisation sought by this government and the previous government".

The deputy leader of the Lords, Lord Howe, told peers that it wasn't just Russia which had opposed the second resolution, but he said the Russians were "extremely unhelpful and uncooperative at that time".